“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Jang Su cried, his arm in a strange hold.
The [Sage] studied it some more, a frown on his face. It was clear that he did not like what he was seeing. That alone worried Jang Su. It had been more than a day since they’d run into Deneret, prince of Bandiv, and his companion. Obedient as he always was, he had fought them at the behest of the [Sage] and, as much as he hated to admit it, had lost.
He looked up at the [Sage] while he sat on the ground. “How did he do it?”
“The same way anyone is supposed to do it.” The [Sage] turned his arm one way and the other, evoking pain in it.
Jang Su bit against the pain. “But I thought you said it was not the easiest thing to learn and people didn’t walk around at my level being able to do it.”
“I did say that.” The [Sage] paused, looked down at him in realization. “Oh. You’re asking me how someone like the prince was able to sever your mana flow?”
“Yes!” Jang Su had tried not to sound disrespectful but had failed spectacularly. “And how am I still alive?”
“You’re alive because I’ve been protecting your mana flow,” the man said casually. “It’s really nothing too spectacular.”
“I didn’t know that was possible,” Jang Su murmured, surprised.
“Uhuh.” The [Sage] sounded as if he was rolling his eyes even though he wasn’t. “You only know the things that I let you know. You severed a mana flow without even knowing what you were doing. Anyway.” He released Jang Su’s arm and stood up. “I’ll need to think about if we need to hunt the prince down or not.”
“Won’t that cause some kind of conflict between the kingdoms?” Jang Su rubbed his arm. Oddly enough, he could not feel the arm. “He is still a prince.”
“Not really.” The [Sage] looked around them, taking in the forest.
Interestingly enough, they were yet to be attacked by any of the chimera monsters that Jang Su had been dealing with. It was almost as if the monsters knew that they were not at their best and wanted to give them the time to catch their breath.
“I’m keeping them away,” the [Sage] answered, as if reading his mind. “Chimeras are mindless creatures driven by nothing but the basest instincts of all the things that make them up. One thing that all things understand is fear. When they fear, they stay away. I’m giving them a reason to fear.”
Jang Su pressed a little harder on his hand and still could not feel it. “He did it with his hand,” he said before he could stop himself.
The [Sage] looked up, like some old man with a smoke pipe. “I know.”
“I didn’t know it was possible.”
“You don’t know a lot of things are possible, kid.” The [Sage] sighed. “Do you remember the enchantment I gave you to give your friend in Trackback?”
Jang Su nodded. He remembered it very clearly. Not the enchantment itself but having to give Aiden the enchantment. “You said it’s a world enchantment of destruction.”
“I did.” The [Sage] looked down at him. “And right now, I think he might be the only one capable of dealing with this new problem of ours.”
Jang Su blinked, a little confused. “How so? And what did he mean when he said that you aren’t allowed to do anything?”
The [Sage] scratched the back of his head as if he would rather be doing something else. Probably bullying some innocent child and calling it training of some kind.
Jang Su looked down at himself. He kind of already is.
“The Derenet you met is not the prince of Bandiv,” the [Sage] said in the end.
“I’m with you so far. Who is he?”
“He’s possessed,” the [Sage] continued, “by some out of the way passenger.” He put a thoughtful finger to his jaw. “If he was quoting the rules very comfortably, then he’s clearly with the gods. Also, only the gods know how to send someone down without breaking the mana barrier.”
“Hold up.” Jang Su wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. “What’s a mana barrier?”
“It’s something worlds with intelligent life forms have. If there are enough intelligent beings in possession of mana, their mana molds with the ambient mana around them and creates an interdimensional barrier. Physically, things can come in and go out, but the same won’t work metaphysically. That’s part of the reason a powerful being and a bunch of spells and enchantments and workings were needed to bring you here. It leaves cracks in the barrier but nothing too deep. It’s like a paper cut compared to other things.”
“And whatever is possessing Derenet walked through that barrier without a problem because he was sent by the gods?”
“Yep.” The [Sage] folded his arms. “The question is why? Unless somebody did the summoning wrong, I don’t see why they would be…”
Jang Su looked up at the [Sage] as he grew suddenly silent. The man’s next words took him by surprise.
“Fuck.”
“I’m sorry, did you just cuss?” Jang Su asked.
“We have bigger problems than a powerful being like me cussing, boy.” The [Sage] turned away from him and tossed something on the ground. “A long while ago, somebody somehow turned back the hands of time in a way that left nobody free. It triggered a series of events far above your understanding.” The man summoned a sword. It appeared in his hand, and he started carving signs in the air. “If that thing’s presence here is related to that then we are royally screwed.”
“And the enchantment?”
The [Sage] looked at him, confused. “What enchantment?”
“The one that you gave my friend,” Jang Su clarified. “Why is it the only thing that can help us?”
“Oh, that. It is an enchantment of destruction on a planetary scale.” The [Sage] spoke as he continued to carve lines in the air. “It’s first use was against the first [Demon King]. Apparently, the person who discovered it had a focused purpose for it, although there were problems. You’ve seen the barriers that reach to the sky, right?”
Jang Su had only seen one, but he knew that Nastild had more than one.
“I have,” he answered. “Yul Kwen told me that they are passages to a more magical world in Nastild, a world with elves and dwarves and magic that allows you level up without having to kill anything.”
He could still remember how interested he had been when Yul Kwen had been telling him about it. It sounded like a world where everyone would be powerful as far as Jang Su was concerned. He often wondered if that world also had their summoned heroes.
“People can still level up without having to kill anything over on this side,” the [Sage] told him. “It’s just harder. If I have to work for a week to level up on that side, I’ll have to work for two a year to level up on this side. The mana density and quality are kind of different. Anyway, I’m trying to teach you about why the black beans shooting to the sky exist not what’s on the other side.” The lines he traced hung in the air like burning script, each one dimming slightly before the next appeared, as though the world itself was absorbing what he wrote. Still, he looked at it with a touch of annoyance, frowning as if something was wrong. “Idiot just makes reaching him impossible.” He made a sound that could’ve been an annoyed growl. “Anyway, the reason the beams came to be was because the [Demon King] had grown a little too strong to deal with, nothing and no one was able to stop him.”
“Sounds terrifying,” Jang Su murmured.
The [Sage] shrugged. “It wasn’t all bad. Still, some idiot found their way to the worlds between.”
“What’s that?”
“You know the teleportation centers?”
Jang Su did. “I’ve used them a few times.”
“So what happens is that when you teleport, you slip through the barrier of space that exists between worlds and slip out the other side. However, you are not strong enough to exists, so to survive the barrier, the teleportation spell rips away your sense of self, dissolves you into your basest form, which is mana, and spits you out on the other side.”
Jang Su had the sudden urge to throw up as he had done the first time he’d used the teleportation center. “I guess that explains the disorientation.”
“Yep.” The [Sage] dispelled the lines in the air with a gesture and started cutting new lines with his sword. “However, some idiot found a way to exist outside the frame of prediction and developed a strong enough sense of self and teleported. When he did, he found himself in between worlds.”
“Wow.”
“Not wow,” the [Sage] chided. “It was stupid and dangerous. Anyway, nobody knows how long he was gone for or how many times he slipped into that world, but at some point in time, he came back and joined his party to face the [Demon King]. The enchantment was what he used. At his level of strength and ability, and the nature of the enchantment, new to everyone, the results were cataclysmic. The barriers were not some agreement simply made because they wanted to separate the world for some random reason. The barrier is destruction personified. The chaos born from using such an enchantment on such a scale on a being as powerful as the [Demon King] was so powerful that it could’ve ruined the world. So, everyone came together with the best of their abilities and sealed the chaos, which birthed,” he pointed in a random direction, “the barriers that separate the world.”
Jang Su gave the entire explanation some thought. He realized two things. One was that the [Sage] had clearly not given him the full story. The second was that the barrier thing still wasn’t making sense form the explanation for one reason.
“If that’s the case,” he said slowly, still pressing his arm and hoping to feel something, “why are there only humans on this side of the barrier?”
“Because humans are the only things alive that do not need the highest concentration of mana to survive and evolve. This side of Nastild has the lower concentration of mana and by a significant number. In order to solve the problem, they knew the world would be split. And let’s just say that humans and other species don’t get along very well. It would amaze you to know what life for humans is like on the other side. So a significant number of humans were more than happy to end up on the side with less mana.” The [Sage] paused as if for dramatic effect, but Jang Su knew that he was trying to remember what he was talking about. “I’m supposed to be talking about the enchantment. At your friend’s level, the enchantment won’t be as powerful, and with proper focus—being the enchantment-based weaver that he seems to be from what I’ve heard from those I know—he should be able to destroy the agent’s connection to Derenet’s body.”
“Agent?” Jang Su asked.
“That’s what they are,” the [Sage] answered. “When the gods use you in specific ways, to work through or with their abilities, you become an agent.”
“An agent of the gods?”
The [Sage] shrugged, noncommittal. “Let’s call it that.” His face hardened as the lines he’d drawn in the air disappeared again. “And why does that fool always make it hard to reach him!”
…
When morning came, the land seemed to open up. It proved itself to be a clearly different place with the light of the sun than the stars of the night even as they crested the slight hill before them. The tension of the day before was far from gone. Feira had even gotten fidgety at some point, her decorum failing her in the face of panic.
Aiden had ridden through a great many landscapes in his past lifetimes and, regardless of how few he had gone through in this one, two lifetimes showed him many landscapes. And if there was one thing he had learnt in both lifetimes, it was that anything beautiful was not to be trusted, be it living or non-living. Even nature, in its beauty, knew that it was beautiful and took advantage of it.
Beauty in a place was so often a kind of bait, a lure. A beautiful meadow hid freshwater wetlands, waterlogged grounds, acidic waters and dead, decayed things. Cleare pools hid leech-things. Warm glades made warm by the monsters that lurked beneath waiting for someone to disturb them sufficiently enough.
That’s just dark, he thought blandly.
Regardless, it was not different for any place. A thing did not have to be soft and gentle, nature did not have to be luscious to be beautiful. He had seen beauty that was all rough edges and hard surfaces. Beautiful cliffs that fell away into black nothings. Ice that held the light like a deep gasp. He had seen mountains so vast and indifferent that a man’s eyes looked upon it with awe and mistook the feeling for safety.
So when Aiden stared upon the mountain, not yet close enough to the conflict, he could not appreciate its beauty, only his suspicion of it.
Could be the tension of being followed.
The range ran as far as the eyes could see in both directions. Even when he focused, all he could see was the range, nothing more. It made him wonder just how far it stretched out. However, directly ahead, the rock split. Two great stone walls drawing apart as if some powerful being had taken a blade and cleft them in two to create the path between them. The valley was perhaps two kilometers from end to en. Narrow and deep, its floor was a thread of hard grass and grey stones.
“It’s beautiful,” Feira said, as she pulled her jepat to a stop beside Aiden’s. Aiden was not sure if he wanted to let her know that beauty was not always as beautiful as one thought.
In his reluctance, he realized what was truly happening and looked at her. He gestured at the mountains before them. “You think this is beautiful?”
It was hard rocks and jagged edges not luscious green and flowing rivers. Yes, he could see the beauty of it, but he could also see the beauty in death and a properly executed torture.
Feira snorted. “What? You think women must only appreciate soft and gentle things. There is beauty in everything, Lord Lacheart. You just need to see it.”
She still said his name as if she had a problem with it. Since he was still a lord, regardless of how far removed they were from civilization, she was still inclined to uphold the proper decorum as long as he asked for it. And he asked for it.
Valdan rode up to them next, his jepat quiet.
“This what we’re looking for?” he asked quietly. He pulled his jepat to a stop, too. Everyone had, spread out along the edge of the ridge, taking in the view. “What’s next?”
“Down that way is our path.” Aiden pointed down at the valley, at a fissure in the side that was supposed to be a secret pathway. He was sure Feira would not be able to see it, but Valdan would be able to with a little focus. “We need to get there as fast as possible.”
“Not at nightfall?” Elami asked from where he sat casually on his jepat. “Is nightfall not when the darkness covers us and the enemies sleep.”
“It’s supposed to be well guarded at night,” Aiden answered. “Day time is when we’ll meet the least resistance.”
“Which way’s the monsters?” Ted asked.
Aiden turned his head and pointed to his right. “All the way over there.”
“There?” Ted turned his head and raised a hand to protect his eyes from the sun. “I don’t see anything.”
That was a good thing. Aiden could only imagine having to deal with what they were about to deal with if he also had to wonder if a chimera was going to jump out at him from nowhere.
Returning his attention to the valley, he studied it. Scouts from both tribes in conflict would be watching. What he needed was a way through that would get them to the pathway even with eyes on them. The aim was to be fast enough to get there without getting caught.
And losing anybody.
Although losing Telma would not bother him much.
A frown slowly creased his lips and wrinkled his forehead as he continued to watch. It did not take heightened perception to know that something was wrong. Was it whoever was following them? Aiden doubted it. He couldn’t feel anything in that direction. This was something else, an old [Enchanter]’s instinct. It was difficult to explain to someone that was neither an [Enchanter] nor a [Mage]. It was the wrongness of a place. As if something was missing or something was present that should not be present. And yet, he could not put a finger on what it was.
Rometo’s jepat moved a little, a simple inch, and Aiden reacted.
His hand shot out to stop him. “Don’t go down.”
He said it quietly, perhaps too quietly, and that was why Rometo’s jepat continued to move or maybe the man was just ignoring him. It had already taken three steps down the slop before he spoke again. This time his voice was hard, firm, maybe slightly annoyed.
“I said stop!”
Everyone obeyed, growing still. Melvet looked unperturbed by his tone and overall demeanor.
“What’s happening?” Ted asked, from where he was.
“Something’s wrong.” Aiden’s eyes did not leave the valley. It studied it very slowly. “It’s too…calm. Something’s going on, keeping it in place.” His instincts were coming back. He was figuring it out as he spoke. “There’s a working here.” He came down from his jepat, eyes now studying their surroundings. He took a step forward and to the side. “Something strong.” His frown deepened. “Old… maybe. Or new and strong.”
“Strong and old is always better than new and strong,” Rometo offered.
Aiden could agree with that. Old was most often patient and precise. Young was mostly rushed and chaotic. If old got you killed, it would be precise and swift. If young got you could, it would most likely be painful and wrong.
“The rocks are too tidy,” Aiden continued, talking mostly to himself. “Precise.” He pointed at a small rock in the distance. “That one should’ve fallen off by now, but its still there. Someone’s done something, a spell, an enchantment, something. I just can’t figure out how exactly or what it’s reach is.” He swallowed, the fear that came with uncertainty trying to hold his attention. “Rometo. You’re powerful and know a few things. Think you can sniff it out?”
Rometo shook his head. “Enchantments and spells are not really my forte.”
“You think it’s whatever’s following us?” Melvet asked.
Aiden doubted it, shaking his head. This was different.
“Could be a natural enchantment,” Valdan suggested. “You told me how you read that such things can be found in places that a vast and natural.”
There was no way he would not be able to sense something as powerful as a natural enchantment with [Enchanted Awareness]. He could only imagine just how strong the vibration would be.
Valdan’s words had told him where to look. If it was a natural enchantment, then there were a few places he could start searching from. The problem was that if it was in the valley, it was too far out. He would not feel it.
But if you’re feeling it now, what if it’s not that far out. What if you’re standing right on top of it.
Aiden’s stomach dropped.
No.
He reached out with his awareness, unsurprisingly sensed nothing, and activated a skill.
[You have used Class skill Enchanted Awareness]
He sensed nothing but the few enchantments among the group. Still, something had to be somewhere. He took a few steps to the left, repeated the same thing to the right. He peered forward.
Not in the valley, he told himself. You can’t sense that far out. Ignore it.
On the ridges.
He took a step forward, closer to the edge and the ground dipped a little. He sensed it then. It was right there, watching him.
His throat tightened as he felt it. The vibration was strong, powerful enough for him to even feel as if it was shaking him.
It wasn’t in the valley. It was right beneath them.
And it was not a natural enchantment. It was a very wrong working of an enchantment, almost like a shamanic rune, twisted so that it did both what it was supposed to do and what it was not supposed to do. It was repulsive.
And dangerous.
The effects were not visual or illusory. It had nothing to do with the valley they were looking at. That was not what was out of place.
Horror grabbed Aiden by the neck and squeezed.
They had not avoided it. They had ridden straight into it.
Fuck.
Aiden turned immediately. He opened his mouth to scream to the others, to command them to ride back, scatter if they had to. The sound barely left his throat when the vibration exploded.
The enchantment activated.
The world fell away around them and the mountains on either side of them were no longer existent. But there was nothing in their place.
Aiden reacted immediately.
[You have used Manifesting skill Enchanted Void]
He felt the mana wash out of him, then smother. Something pressed on it from all sides and Aiden could not make a sound.
[Manifesting skill Enchanted Void does not take effect]
God no.
It was his only thought as the world around him went dark.
“So,” a voice pierced the darkness, quiet and warm, friendly in a way that told you its wielder had power over you, “you must be Aiden Lacheart.”
He opened his mouth to ask for the others, to challenge, to do anything. Sound eluded him. He was at the mercy of whoever had cast the enchantment.
“You,” the voice added, “killed my experiment.”